Chapter 60, The Blacks’ March on Augury Sect

Translator: Tamon

 

The monkey’s tail shortened, its hair fell off, its skin gained luster, and its body grew taller, looking closer and closer to a human.

 

“What the hell…”

 

“Is it turning into a human?”

 

The demons’ jaws hit the floor.

 

The monkey didn’t forget to scream as well, and cry, and laugh, and rage, and whimper. All emotions were laid bare.

 

“Cultivation deviation,” Hei Huang spoke.

 

A sudden spike in cultivation, mutations, and no cultivation method to lean on, all pointed to a classic case of cultivation deviation.

 

“Agh!”

 

The monkey froze out of nowhere, still as a statue.

 

Its evolution halted at a height of two meters, bald and tailless. But it still had rough skin, somewhere between monkey and human.

 

The monkey was now a monkey-man.

 

Xu Hei was too overwhelmed to make coherent sentences.

 

[What kind of insane pill is this? First a walking fish and now a human monkey?]

 

The monkey-man, however, had blank eyes, a parted mouth, and was still like a puppet.

 

“Why isn’t it moving?”

 

Xu Hei Attracted a branch to wave it in its face.

 

“He’s gone mad from deviation and died.” Hei Huang said.

 

“Gone mad…”

 

Xu Hei’s brow shook, having heard of that term. It happened when one’s cultivation strayed and the user’s demons rampaged in their mind until they died.

 

Xu Bai jumped in fright and lowered her head. “I-it wasn’t on purpose. I didn’t know it would kill someone.”

 

Hei Huang sneered. “And what of it? The monkey was supposed to be our dinner. Thinking back, I used to poison an entire sect on a whim.”

 

The monkey’s fate was irrelevant to him, only pondering the cause of the pill’s effect.

 

He witnessed the entire refining process. He knew the ingredients, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t fathom how a weird pill came out that could mutate living beings.

 

That was no average pill, but a demonic cultivator’s demon pill!

 

Xu Hei was also pensive.

 

Growing legs on a fish to let it stroll around, turning a monkey into a human, ish, and from the looks of it, the process would’ve kept going if it survived.

 

Xu Hei exclaimed. “Hei Huang, what’s her cultivation method?”

 

“Cultivation method?” Xu Bai muttered. “It’s called Heavenly Devil something…”

 

“The Heavenly Devil Art!” Hei Huang shuddered.

 

His memory inheritance contained the Heavenly Devil Art!

 

But the art matched his wight body alone. There had never been a case of a top wood spirit root user cultivating it.

 

“Try using it.” Hei Huang urged.

 

Xu Bai did as he asked, letting a strand of True Qi from her demon core travel through her meridians.

 

It was a strong wood True Qi with a hint of darkness, interlinked and inseparable.

 

Hei Huang gasped. “It really is the Heavenly Devil Art! But I’ve never seen this type of True Qi!”

 

[It all makes sense now!]

 

It was his Heavenly Devil Art combined with the wood spirit root that led to this variation, a change that he, himself, never saw coming.

 

“Can I still refine?” Xu Bai asked.

 

“Nice refining, but don’t do it again.” Hei Huang said.

 

Xu Bai: “…”

 

It was Xu Hei’s extensive persuasion that allowed her to try it if she wanted to. Besides, they’re bound to get some cultivators to test her results on. With a couple of willing and unwilling test subject, she’d improve for sure.

 

Xu Bai regained her confidence and said that she would work harder to live up to their expectations.

 

“I’ll give my best; I promise. I will refine pills useful to Great King Xu Hei!” Xu Bai’s eyes burned with resolve.

 

“Ha-ha, that’s more like it.” Xu Hei forced out a smile.

 

He handed her all the ingredients and three brand-new furnaces from his storage bag.

 

Xu Bai was thrilled, rushing back in to experiment.

 

“Xu Hei, you put her up to this, so you’re going to swallow the results!” Hei Huang grinned sinisterly.

 

Xu Hei glanced at the humanoid monkey, shrinking back in reflex before turning around. “Oh, would you look at the time?”

 

“Hey, wait up!”

 

Hei Huang collected the monkey man’s body and ran over with a roguish smile. “Xu Hei, aren’t you dying for some pills? I can get you enough Minor Boost Pill to reach peak Awareness.”

 

Xu Hei paused, knowing it was bound to be shady, but still asked, “How?”

 

“A big score, hitting an Alchemy House!”

 

Hei Huang took out a map with glee. “This is the layout of the Augury Sect. Don’t ask. Now, the Alchemy House is here. Hey, don’t go! I was getting to the good part.”

 

Xu Hei cursed. “Knock yourself out; I’m not stopping you.”

 

Xu Hei wanted to cultivate in peace and quiet, not run for his life. He’d just got back from fighting humans, and now he was going out for more? It never ends.

 

Hei Huang rolled his eyes as he followed. “We’re there to steal, not fight. What are you scared of?

 

“The Augury Sect is a woman sect, a gullible and an easy mark.

 

“They’re focused on alchemy too. Heck, not just the Minor Boost Pill, but even the Foundation Establishment Pill!

 

“Have I ever screwed you over?

 

“Xu Hei, humans are evil. We can’t just wait to die; we have to fight back…”

 

Hei Huang kept at it, laying out the pros and cons of the job, all to get the snake on board.

 

His voice was haunting, always pushing the right buttons to get Xu Hei to accept.

 

Xu Hei snapped back at him. “Give it to me straight: what’s our odds?”

 

Hei Huang flinched. “Ninety percent, with you included.”

 

“Then come on! Tell me the plan on the way there.”

 

Xu Hei used Earthen Motion as he sped for Augury Sect.

 

He knew Hei Huang wasn’t going to quit until he agreed, so he might as well say it sooner to avoid wasting time.

 

Hei Huang followed him with a smug little smile. “Little Xu, even split, per usual.”

 

“I know, I know. Stop blabblering so much.”

 

…

 

On the way, at Xu Hei’s persistent request, Hei Huang refined another batch of puppets and Invisible Talismans.

 

Hei Huang couldn’t avoid it and had to suck it up.

 

Two days later, the dynamic duo watched the Augury Sect coming into view.

 

The Augury Sect, one of the four major sects under the Snake Catchers Sect, was female only, but on the same level as the other three.

 

Its main, and most obvious, trait was excessive indulgence.

 

From the disciples to the elders, all were stuck-up and ignorant like mortals.

 

All of that arrogance stemmed from one thing: the women’s flawless looks. Then there’s the Augury Art, a dual cultivation method that improved cultivation with great speed, earning them an incredible following.

 

Be it magic treasure, spiritual beast, or anything else, they were served to them on a silver platter.

 

Even Snake Catchers Sect’s disciples accommodated them.

 

As the Augury Art required willing partners for optimal results, in the off chance the woman was irritated, the male would suffer from deviation and die.

 

This was the Augury Art’s dominance.

 

Adding the fact the Augury Sect Leader was the Dao companion of an overprotective Snake Catchers Sect bigshot, no one messed with them.

 

“Ha-ha, that’s why we hardly met with any Augury Sect disciples on our way here. They get everything on a whim, so why bother going out to risk their lives?” Hei Huang snickered.

 

“The Augury Art’s creator sure was amazing, leading to the prosperity of an entire sect.” Xu Hei admired.

 

“Oh, almost forgot. The creator was a man.”

 

“Eh?” Xu Hei blinked.

 

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